Does Ironman have the momentum from this Summer's Avengers Blockbuster?
Has The Wolverine learned from past sins?
Will Nolan's influence put Superman back it's rightful spot?
Is Thor great enough to stir an upset?

I think Iron Man 3 will come out on top. It's his third solo outing after two financially successful ones (the most successful of MS after the Avengers), and he's coming off of the Avengers. Thor 2 and Man of Steel will either come in second or third, but I voted second for Thor 2 and third for Man of Steel. Hemsworth and Hiddleston are pretty popular right now, as are their Asgardian counterparts, and anyone who wants to find out what happens to Loki after watching the Avengers will watch Thor 2. I haven't been following the development of Man of Steel, so I don't have much to go on other than knowing that Superman is still one of the most popular superheroes. Wolverine without question will come in fourth. After 13 years and a movie that stunk, I think that Wolverine, or particularly Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman, has run its course. I may turn out to be wrong about the other three, but I'm pretty certain about this.

I think Man of Steel will come out on top by a large margin, but I hope to god the Nolanites don't try to champion this as his doing. If MOS goes platinum, it will be due to Snyder's influence far more than Nolan's.

Then, it's a toss-up between IM and Thor. I don't think either can expect a feel-good boost from Avenger coattails; instead, people will be judging those movies against IM2 and the first Thor. In which case it comes down to whichever one is perceived as far more of an improvement over their predecessors.

Wolverine has a hard row to hoe. X-Fans have already left the Singer (and, ugh, Ratner) era behind and are more interested in the sequel to XMFC. But The Wolverine definitely looks like the solo movie Logan *should* have had instead of that XMO bull****.

I highly doubt Supes will resonate with audiences at this point in time rather than IM, especially after the success of TA. Hell, I even feel Thor will be riding higher thanks to TA. Plus, after SR, Supes has a way to go in my eyes, but it will be closer between MoS and Thor 2 I think. I wouldn't be surprised with:

I don't see how MOS stands a chance against IM3. It might slug it out with Thor2 for the #2 spot but that's about the best I could see for it.

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It will be interesting to see what effect Avengers has on IM3. I'm playing it conservative and guessing IM3 makes IM2 money. MOS on the other hand is an unknown quantity. It looks like an interesting take on Supes from the little I've seen and I think this doesn't repeat the performance of Returns but does way better. Not going by much other than a gut feeling that this movie is going to look unique for a Superman movie and be the one he deserves.

I actually really want to see the new wolverine movie. Even though it sucked, I enjoyed origins. Also next summers lineup is filled with a list superheroes. Doesn't get much bigger than iron man, Thor, superman, and wolverine. Great time to be a comic fan.

You know what though..... Thor has the potential of being Marvels "Lord Of The Rings" the same way GotG could be Marvel's StarWars and/or StarTrek.

I mean Thor has enough compelling stories to give even Game of Thrones a run for it's money but the only problem is that it probably won't. The first Thor film was okay. I especially like the parts where they focused on Thor's home world.

So if they make Asgard and the other realms a bigger focus in part 2 and allow the supporting characters to be more likable and relevant, then Thor could be in a class all by itself.

Box office-wise, IM3 easily, I think it'll easily cross $800m WW.
Thor 2 likely second with over $600m WW
Supes I think will settle around $500m but could also surpass Thor if it's a great film.
Wolverine - $400 - $500m.

My reasoning, both IM3 and Thor2 are coming off the Avengers high, they're very popular right now. So looking at previous BO - $623m (not in 3D) + $449m (practically unknown character) respectively) it's only going up from there.

Both Superman & Wolverine are in the opposite boat to IM & Thor. They both have to turn the tide that is the GA's perception of them because of previous films + in Supes case he's generally perceived as lame (before someone says "he's the most well known/best/first hero...!!", yes he's known world wide, but 'well known' and 'popular' aren't the same thing, Supes isn't popular. The film can change that, so we'll see)
However no X-Men film has done more than $460m WW and Superman has more potential for big spectacle (especially with Snyder's eye).

Quality wise, I think there's potential for high quality across the board, which is obviously awesome but I do think IM3 stands the best chance of being great with Shane Black writing/directing (with Favreau & Whedon in reserve along with the MS crew in general).

After that I think Thor 2 is most solid, Taylor & Rodat and again MS just seem to have their s*** together.

Wolverine I'm cautiously optimistic about after X:FC, Fox seem to have turned a bit of a corner but you never know.

MoS I'm most leary about. Goyer & Snyder both have very spotty records. If the script is great then Snyder will deliver, but Goyer seems to have sole screenplay credit (with C Nolan getting a story credit), hopefully either Goyer pulls something spectacular out of his ass or J Nolan script doctored.

I think Superman wins, hands down, because ironically enough, Marvel and DC do a shift in 2013: DC goes for a real four-color superhero with Kal-El, while Thor and Iron Man get the Nolanite "dark and gritty" treatment. And I think that will backfire, to great effect for MOS, and disappointing numbers for IM and Thor.

Granted, Zack Snyder isn't Steven Spielberg; he's definitely dropped the ball on some great potential several times. But so has Spielberg --- *many* times. There's one thing that's a guarantee for Snyder: he is extremely faithful to the source material of whatever comic/graphic novel he's adapting, so it's a given that his Superman will be very authentic to the books --- far more so than Bryan Singer's crap, and even the Donner films, which quickly devolved into Joel Schumacher-like camp over several installments.

Avengers was lightning in a bottle, and the bulk of its success draws from the team aspect. That aspect is, of course, lacking in the solo films; and there's already reports that Feige and the filmmakers are trying to steer away from Avenger references to let IM and Thor stand on their own. This is *not* a particularly intelligent strategy, trying to distance yourself from a box-office gold mine.

I'll be glad to reassess my opinion once we start seeing trailers for IM, Thor and MOS; but for now, everything I've seen puts MOS miles ahead of the competition in 2013.